Wednesday, 18 July 2012

How to Choose the Right Office Mover Company?

How to Choose the Right Office Mover Company?

It is a nightmare whenever your employer decides to re-locate to another site. As you would have to stay behind each day to sort out the files and documents that you have accumulated over the years and having to decide whether to discard or pack them and move them to the new office. How should you pack them such that confidential information would not be leaked, and you can’t move them yourself earlier as there are many current working files? What if you are in charge of IT equipment, how could you plan to move so that they are transported safely to the new location? And if you are in charge of the overall move for the office, what should you do?

You can enlist the help of professional mover companies! They can advise on how to plan, co-ordinate and execute the move, with minimal disruption to the business activities. Besides providing consultancy services, these mover companies will provide the transport and manpower to move whatever required of them. These professionals will provide the relevant expertise, equipment, boxes and materials to ensure files, documents, office equipment, furniture and any fragile items are properly taken care of. For example, they will provide proper materials (companies may charge for materials) to pad relevant items, if necessary to avoid damage and also to use the correct equipment for transporting and loading them into the truck.

When choosing a mover company, you need to know your needs before shortlisting any. You can seek out these mover companies through words of mouth or via the net. Gathering information from friends / colleagues, what is written on the website and by calling them directly will help to determine if they meet your needs, you can then short list the 3 to 5 mover companies that you would like to meet in person. They will survey your office before providing the quote and when you are meeting the representative from the company, you can also make a quick assessment of their service; including how generous and brilliant they are in giving advice to your concerns.

Once the 3 to 5 mover companies have given their quotes, they shall be listed in the decision matrix. The next step is to list the criteria for choosing the ideal mover companies. These criteria shall include, cost, as quoted by each mover company. Other criteria include the size of the truck. If there are special requirements, then this criterion should be included eg the need of ensuring confidentiality of files / computer / discs / documents during the move or be able to take special care of unique equipment. Further, the ability to provide sound advice on planning, co-coordinating and executing the move in an efficient and timely manner must be included. A criterion of being highly recommended by other companies, friends, colleagues should also be considered.

Once you have finalized the criteria, rank each mover company according to how best each meet the criteria, scoring a 1 ie ranked first, for the mover company that best meets the criterion and rank last ie 5, if 5 companies are shortlisted, for the mover company that least meets the criterion. Once ranking has been completed, total up the score for each company. The mover company that has the lowest cumulative score is ranked first overall and is the best-balanced choice. Before signing the contract with them, it is wise to have another discussion with the mover company; including visiting the company to ascertain that your needs will be met so that the co-ordination of the move is a smooth and successful one.